As momentum behind the removal of DMAA from the supplement market snowballs, many preworkout sellers are in search of new natural stimulants to replace the contentious ingredient.
Many sellers anticipated the change and prepped their products to be ahead of the curve, and instead use N-Methyltyramine, a stimulant alkaloid found in bitter orange. Bitter orange has its own demons—a source close to Nutrition Business Journal has quipped that the extract has more science proving what it isn’t than what it is. A reliable industry source said last week that synthetic forms of synephrine—a bitter orange extract—are likely to come under similar scrutiny as DMAA.
But another extract has emerged as a new contender in preworkout stimulant—Dendrobium nobile (or Dendrobium officinale), a type of orchid. One of the 50 fundamental herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine, Dendrobium stem extract appears in the popular preworkout formulas. It can also be found in ingredient lists under the trademark Dendrobex.
According to Loren Israelsen of the United Natural Products Alliance (UNPA), Dendrobium extract appears on UNPA’s list of Old Dietary Ingredients (ODIs)—those ingredients on the market prior to the 1994 passage of the Dietary Supplement Health & Education Act. It also appears in the book Herbs of Commerce from the American Herbal Products Association.
The question, of course, is whether Dendrobex has been altered in any way to change its status as an ODI. (Geranimine, for example, was the trademark that chemist Patrick Arnold used to try to qualify synthetic DMAA as a geranium extract.) If Dendrobex is at all altered, it would theoretically require a New Dietary Ingredient (NDI) notification.
To stay safe in this time of question we recommend increasing the use of Yohimbe, Phenethylamine, or Caffeine.
You will find the use of these types of ingredients primarily in the following supplement categories:
At Private Label Supplement we do not use any form of DMAA in our Private Label Stock Formulas.
All my best,
Stefani Thionnet
Stay focused and never give up!
